Waterford and Kilkenny Railway incorporated 21 July 1845 by the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. lxxxvii).[1]
The aim was to create a series of railways which would connect Waterford, Cork, Dublin and Galway. The creation of such links was considered a good investment for the stock market but also intended to have a positive impact on businesses in Ireland and links to the rest of the UK.[1]
The first part of the rail line to be completed was the Kilkenny to Thomastown section. Work began in 1846 but the line didn't open until 12 May 1848 due to delays in waiting for other railway companies to finish connecting track. Thomastown station was a Tudor Revival building which opened 1848.[2][3] The line reached Seapoint Hill in 1850 and the rest of the track to Waterford was completed in 1853 with the opening of the station at Dunkitt.[4]
In 1850 the company applied for an act of Parliament, the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Amendment Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. lxii) to allow them to raise further funds. The long term goal being the trunk line to the midlands.[5][6]
An Act for making a Railway from the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway at Kilkenny to the Great Southern and Western Railway at Mountrath, and for other Purposes.
An Act to enable the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company to abandon the Portion of their authorized Line between Abbeyleix and Monntrath, and instead thereof to make new Lines to the Maryborough Station and to the Roscrea Junction on the Great Southern and Western Railway; and for other Purposes.
An Act to extend the Time for the Purchase of Lands for and Completion of the Kilpurcell Branch Railway of the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company, and to confer upon that Company Power to use Stations at Kilkenny, and to enable them to raise further Money; and for other Purposes.
An Act to authorize the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company to abandon the Construction of their authorized Kilpurcell Branch Railway; and for other Purposes.
An Act to confer further powers on the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Company and the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company; and for other purposes.
An Act to authorise deviations from the authorised Lines of the Central Ireland Railways, and to confer further powers with reference to those Lines and their respective Undertakings of the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Company and the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company; and for other purposes.
An Act to confer further powers on the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Company and the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company with reference to their separate and joint Undertakings; and for other purposes.
Another act of Parliament, the Central Ireland Railways Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. cclvii) was put forward in 1866 to create new railway lines as a joint venture of the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Company and the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company. In anticipation of the increased range of the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway company the name was changed to the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway by the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. cxli). The line from Kilkenny only reached Maryborough in 1867. The line to Mountmellick was opened in 1883 and that was as far as the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway got.
An Act to confer further powers on the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Company for the construction of new Railways to form part of the Central Ireland Railway to Authorise that Company and the Kilkenny Junction Railway Company to amalgamate their undertakings and for other purposes.
The Waterford and Central Ireland Railway and the Kilkenny Junction Railway were amalgamated by the Central Ireland Railway Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c. xvi).
In 1900, as a result of acts of Parliament, several important lines became part of the GS&WR system, including the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway and the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway.[7]
The line from Thomastown to Jerpoint Hill, completed in 1850, was the section which needed the viaduct across the river Nore. Captain William Moorsom was the engineer who designed the structure of lattice woodwork beginning the work in 1846.[8] It was two hundred feet long and seventy-eight feet above the River Nore. At twenty-five feet wide, it was designed for two lines, although only one was built. When done was the longest single span viaduct in either Ireland or Great Britain.
The new viaduct had Charles Richard Galwey (1840–94) as the engineer.[9] The iron structure was completed in 1877. It replaced an older wooden viaduct which was feared to be unstable and dangerous. Throughout the 1850s there were reports on the safety of the structure and while all agreed it was safe it was still recommended to replace it with an iron viaduct which would need less maintenance. The metal constraction was made by the Mallet foundry and the son of that family, Robert Mallet was one of the planner of the viaduct.[10]
^"Viaduct details". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1851 - Railway architecture - 5 pages. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
